Deterioration of Postincarceration Social Support for Emerging Adults

• Author: Elaine Eggleston Doherty,Christopher Veeh,Christina Drymon,Carrie Pettus-Davis
• Published date: 01 October 2017
• Date: 01 October 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0093854817721936
• Published By: Sage Publications, Inc.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854817721936

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2017, Vol. 44, No. 10, October 2017, 1317 –1339.

DOI: 10.1177/0093854817721936

© 2017 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1317

DETERIORATION OF POSTINCARCERATION

SOCIAL SUPPORT FOR EMERGING ADULTS

CARRIE PETTUS-DAVIS

Washington University in St. Louis

ELAINE EGGLESTON DOHERTY

University of Missouri–St. Louis

CHRISTOPHER VEEH

CHRISTINA DRYMON

Washington University in St. Louis

More than 2.5 million emerging adults (ages 18-25) are incarcerated annually and most do poorly after release. Social support

after an individual’s release from incarceration is a critical protective factor against recidivism for emerging adults. However,

little is known about the stability of support for emerging adults post incarceration. This study uses hierarchical linear mod-

eling (HLM) to examine whether social support declines over time after incarceration and how change in support may vary

by incarceration length. Our findings show that, while a nonincarcerated group of justice-involved emerging adults experi-

ence relatively stable social support, there are negative and volatile effects of social support among their incarcerated coun-

terparts. Moreover, longer incarceration stays are related to greater deterioration of support over time after community

reentry for emerging adults. Study findings advance the field of postincarceration intervention development by responding

to the challenge of determining the appropriate targets and length of interventions designed for emerging adults.

Keywords: reentry; social support; intervention; family; emerging adult; youthful offender; incarceration

INTRODUCTION

More than 2.5 million emerging adults (i.e., individuals aged 18 to 25 years) have contact

with the criminal justice system each year, and approximately 30% are arrested by age 23

(Brame, Turner, Paternoster, & Bushway, 2012). Once incarcerated, emerging adults have

the highest recidivism rate of any age group with 76% rearrested for a new crime within 3

years post release (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). Thus, incarceration during this critical

time increases the likelihood of further involvement with jail and prison into adulthood.

During emerging adulthood, most individuals are navigating new social roles through

employment and education, developing adult relationships outside the family unit, and

exploring long-term intimate partnerships. In contrast, incarcerated emerging adults spend

this time confined in a potentially volatile environment. The experience of imprisonment

leave these individuals facing substantially reduced social, occupational, marriage, and

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Carrie Pettus-Davis,

George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Dr., St. Louis,

MO 63130; e-mail: cpettusdavis@wustl.edu.

721936CJBXXX10.1177/0093854817721936Criminal Justice and BehaviorPettus-Davis et al. / Deterioration of Postincarceration Support

research-article2017

1318 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

civic opportunities, further limiting the chance for a healthy transition into adult social roles

and related social support (Bonnie, Stroud, & Breiner, 2015; Steinberg, Chung, & Little,

2004; M. L. Sullivan, 2004).

Based on Cullen’s (1994) social support theory, positive relationships are a key factor for

formerly incarcerated emerging adults to navigate desistance from criminal behaviors dur-

ing reentry (Cullen, Wright, & Chamlin, 1999). In fact, research shows social support is

“positively and causally related to mental health, physical health, and longevity” and “buf-

fers the harmful physical and mental health impacts of stress exposure” (Thoits, 2011a, p.

145). Underscoring the salience of social support to criminal involvement, Andrews, Bonta,

and Wormith (2006) highlight low or poor social support as one of the “big four” risk fac-

tors for general recidivism. Thus, rehabilitative interventions that help formerly incarcer-

ated emerging adults receive and maintain social support may reduce recidivism (Colvin,

Cullen, & Vander Ven, 2002; Wright & Cesar, 2013).

Although ample evidence suggests that social support is critical to community reentry

outcomes (Colvin et al., 2002), significant knowledge gaps remain regarding incarcera-

tion’s influence on the trajectory of an individual’s social support post release. Yet, we

know that incarceration disrupts social support networks, and the longer an individual is

incarcerated, the more social support atrophies (Martinez & Abrams, 2013). Therefore,

prisoner reentry researchers and program developers are increasingly designing postincar-

ceration interventions with strategies that enhance naturally occurring (i.e., informal) social

support (Byrne & Taxman, 2004; Fontaine, Taxy, Peterson, Breaux, & Rossman, 2015;

Hanson & Harris, 2000; Petersilia, 2003; Pettus-Davis et al., 2015; Willis & Grace, 2009;

Wright & Cesar, 2013).

Many of these social support–focused interventions concentrate on the period immedi-

ately after release—during the first 6 months after incarceration—when people are most

likely to recidivate (Altschuler & Armstrong, 2001; Chung, Schubert, & Mulvey, 2007).

However, evaluation results regarding the impact of such short-term social support interven-

tions have been mixed (Fontaine et al., 2015; E. Sullivan, Mino, Nelson, & Pope, 2002;

Wilson & Davis, 2006). The findings from this body of intervention research suggest that

initial spikes in social support upon reentry to the community are followed by slow but

steady declines after the first 6 months post incarceration (Fontaine, Gilchrist-Scott, Denver,

& Rossman, 2012; Pettus-Davis et al., 2017; Seal, Eldrige, Kacanek, Binson, & MacGowan,

2007). In short, if social support deteriorates over time during the first year of reentry, short-

term interventions are likely not sufficient. Yet, systematic empirical investigation of the

changes in social support over these longer periods of time post incarceration is lacking. This

study aims to advance understanding of how social support from caring adults changes over

the first 2 years post incarceration among formerly incarcerated emerging adults. Filling this

knowledge gap can improve postincarceration interventions by providing guideposts for the

timing and amount of social support needed beyond the initial reentry period.

BACKGROUND

SOCIAL SUPPORT

Social support is commonly defined as a process of interpersonal interaction that involves

the provision or exchange of social resources that persons perceive to be available or are

actually provided by others (Cohen, Underwood, & Gottlieb, 2000; House, 1981). Social